NHL Fandom in 4 Charts
Gen Z and Hockey
I have several opinions about hockey and hockey fandom.
First, the NHL provides the most thrilling fan experience. This is a personal preference, but I believe the blend of speed, hitting, and skill, all while skating, is unparalleled in sports. Second, hockey fans are among the most passionate in all sports. This is anecdotal, but my impression is that hockey fans are more devoted than fans in other major professional leagues. Third, I feel that hockey, like baseball, is losing its status as a “national” sport while gaining tremendous strength as a local sport. This opinion stems from the level of coverage I observe on outlets like ESPN, coupled with the NHL’s strong local attendance (and high prices).
These opinions are formed mainly through observations and a few data points (e.g., NHL Finals viewership over time, NHL team average prices, NHL team average attendance). I think hockey has enormous potential, but also faces significant challenges that could push it into niche status.
Observation and market response data provide an excellent starting point, but it's also crucial to directly survey fans. In today’s post, I have some primary data on NHL and hockey fandom. This data comes from the 2025 edition of the Next Generation Fandom Survey. In today’s post, I present four figures that reveal significant aspects of NHL and hockey fandom.
Super Fandom and Apathetics
The first piece of data focuses on “Super Fandom” and “Apathy” regarding the “major” U.S. professional leagues (with super fandom defined as a self-reported fandom rating of 7 on a 7-point fandom scale, and apathy defined as a rating of 1 on the same scale). The “major” pro leagues include the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS.
The NFL has the highest Super Fandom rate (28.9%) and the lowest Apathy rate (14.5%). The NBA and MLB are interesting as the NBA has a higher fandom rate than the MLB, but the NBA also has a higher apathy rate than MLB.
The NHL is 4th with a Super Fandom rate of 8.4%. The fandom rate paces the NHL well below the “big three” of American sports and just ahead of the MLS.
The NHL also has the second-highest Apathy rate, at 36.1%. However, the NHL has a clear advantage over MLS on this metric.
Fandom and Apathy by Generation
The second figure shows Super Fandom and Apathy across the four major sports-consuming generations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. This figure shows how the NHL performs across different age segments of consumers.
The generational data shows a strong peak of fandom in the Millennial segment. The Millennials also have lower apathy than the other cohorts.
Hockey fandom is weakest in the Baby Boomer segment, and apathy is highest (by a wide margin).
Generation Z fandom is significantly lower than Millennials’ fandom (7.6% versus 12.4%). This suggests a decline in hockey fandom of almost 40% from Millennials to Gen Z.
Apathy is generally much higher than super fandom, with the ratio of apathetics to super fans ranging from about 2 to 1 for Millennials and almost 10 to 1 for Boomers.
Who Does the NHL Care About?
The third figure illustrates the percentage of respondents who answered affirmatively to the question: "Do you believe the NHL cares about having you as a fan?" This question aims to evaluate how fans perceive a league’s marketing and outreach efforts. The data is valuable for gauging a league’s ability to be accessible and welcoming.
Millennials (45.1%) and Gen X (46.9%) feel the most valued by the NHL.
Gen Z and the Baby Boomers feel relatively less valued by the NHL. Gen Z feels the least valued (39.1%).
Future Popularity
The fourth figure illustrates the percentage of each generational cohort that believes hockey will be either extremely popular or extremely unpopular in the future. This data aims to capture the “wisdom of the crowd" regarding the sport's future prospects.
Gen X is the most optimistic about the NHL being extremely popular in the future.
A surprising result is that Millennials rate the NHL’s likelihood of being extremely popular lower (10.6%) than the other generations (12.5%). This is surprising because Millennials have the highest rate of fandom.
Gen Z has the highest percentage of respondents who believe that hockey will lose significant popularity. Millennials have the second-highest percentage who believe hockey will be unpopular in the future.
Commentary
The NHL has significant strengths—a great product, a deep history, and significant loyalty across two countries. However, the NHL lacks mainstream stars and gets less media coverage than other major sports. The data presented above highlights more of the league's challenges than its strengths.
The NHL performs relatively poorly with Gen Z regarding whether the league “cares about having me as a fan.” This is a significant issue that warrants further research. The figure indicates that Gen Z feels less appreciated by the league compared to older generations. Furthermore, the “NHL Cares” percentage of 39% is also considerably lower than the Gen Z “Cares” scores for the NFL at 62% and NBA at 61%. All sports are struggling with younger generations, but the NHL may face a more pressing issue.
Another intriguing result is the disconnect between Millennials, who have the highest rate of fandom yet the lowest optimism for hockey’s popularity. Given the closeness in ages, Millennials may be more aware of the league's struggles with Gen Z.
Hockey’s weakness with Baby Boomers should also be noted. While the Boomers may be aging out of being a core live attendance segment, it is dangerous to de-emphasize older generations in sports industries. So much of fandom and tradition is transmitted through family structures that losing a senior fan can often lead to less acquisition of new fans.
It should be noted that the preceding only scratches the surface of NHL fandom and the league’s prospects. Myriad other segmentation variables may be used to highlight the NHL’s fandom strengths and challenges. For example, fandom rates may be compared across segments defined by gender, race, political orientation, or psychometric metrics. The essential insight from the preceding is that the NHL fandom has a significant generational challenge, but this is only a partial evaluation of the league’s circumstances.
In terms of key takeaways, the preceding data identifies generational trends that can be extremely useful. For example, the league can explore why the NBA appeals to Gen Z more effectively than the NHL. What characteristics of the technological and demographic environments have made one league more adaptable to shifting generational tastes than the other? Such an analysis can inform the appropriate marketing strategies.
The Next Generation Fandom Survey
The 2025 installment is the fifth edition of the Next Generation Fandom Survey. The Next Generation Fandom survey is an annual look at the state of sports, entertainment, and cultural fandom in the United States. The survey began during my tenure as the Emory Marketing Analytics Center Director. The study aims to measure the current state of fandom across a wide range of sports and other cultural categories and to collect data on the factors that underlie fandom. The 2025 Survey includes responses from 1610 individuals split nearly evenly across the four primary generations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. The sample is also split evenly across genders and is racially representative. Data collection occurred from March 13, 2025, to April 2, 2025.